The Zoots perform at Hothorne Hall for Sonny and Julia’s wedding

January 2016, do you remember January? So long ago! It was cold and dark and gloomy, but not for us, we were pretty happy because January is when Sonny & Julia decided to get in touch to see if we were available to perform for them on their wedding day on July 23rd 2016. Fast forward 220 days or so, and here we are and we’re on our way to Hothorpe Hall!

The day was positively glorious, we’ve had a sunny spell this week which we’ve enjoyed recharging our solar batteries. The journey to Hothrope Hall was pleasant. We enjoyed some classic banter in the van. #vanbants.

Sunglasses were firmly on as we pulled up to Hothorpe Hall to unload. I think you’ll agree, it’s pretty lovely.

Steph from Hothorpe was someone I was looking forward to meeting. We’d been in touch with Steph in the lead up to the day, running through the itinerary, our arrival time and what we needed to do. Steph, and the entire team in fact we’re really helpful and lovely every step of the way. They made sure we were really well looked after throughout out time at Hothorpe.

We arrived in really good time, and were able to begin setting up as soon as we arrived as we were performing in a separate room to where the wedding breakfast was taking place. Shortly after we began setting up, the team brought us out the most delicious food we’ve had in a long time, veggie paneer curry! Needless to say we devoured it pretty quickly! Thank you very much to Sonny & Julia for arranging the food and drinks for us.

We continued setting up for the evening ahead. As the room had carpets and curtains, it made it a lot easier for us to control the sound, as it wasn’t being reflected back to us from any hard surfaces! Whilst setting up, we met some of the younger guests from the wedding party, who were lovely and excited about our performance as they’d heard ‘we were really, reallly reallllly good!’ 😀

We wanted to wait until the speeches taking place in a room near by were finished before sound-checking, so we had sometime to explore the impressive building and grounds.

Soon we were back inside, running through some numbers and making sure everything was perfect. Soundcheck over, we had some time in our breakout room to warm up and get changed. I’m pleased to see ‘1 sofa per band member’ memo was received.

Shortly after, we were on! Sonny & Julia had chosen ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You‘ by Andy Williams, for their first dance. It was lovely and wonderful when they were joined on the dance floor by their friends and family. The newly weds had chosen some brilliant songs from our repertoire for us to play for the evening. The dance-floor was packed, the atmosphere was energetic, shoes were removed and the room was sweaty. All the signs of a brilliant night.

In between our sets and afterwards, a friend of Sonny & Julia’s, DJ Taz, kept the dance-floor full, playing some awesome tracks. He was brilliant.

But as all good things must come to an end, so did this. We coiled our leads, packed up our equipment, said our goodbyes and wheeled everything out the way in which we had come in what felt like many days ago. We really enjoyed meeting lots of you after the show and hearing your lovely comments about our performance.

Thank you so much to Sonny & Julia for choosing The Zoots to be their band for the evening. Thank you to Steph and the team at Hothorpe Hall for being totally brilliant too. And thank you to whoever made the food, it was amazing. #salivates.

You were amazing!! Remember I’m the Latin/Rock European champion dancer – NOT!! Just the couple seriously loving your music! I have danced to many Irish bands since I was a child but you guys smash it with your drummer and atmosphere you produce as a team, he really was outstanding!!!!